Labour's 'obsession with tests and parent choice is failing nation's children'

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Crucially, it is not breaking the close link between social class and school results, according to the working paper for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Failure: UK schools are falling further behind international standards

It highlights the UK's results in international comparison tests, which show our pupils performing significantly below those in the top developed countries such as Canada and Finland.

The report's author, economist Anne-Marie Brook, suggests the main reason is that the connection between a pupil's background and performance remains unusually high in the UK.

Giving parents more choice 'tends only to work for a well-informed and confident clientele', while children from the lowest socio-economic classes end up in the worst schools.

Miss Brook says ministers should focus more on supporting weaker schools and offer pay incentives to encourage the best teachers to work in them.